Manta Rays of Lady Elliot Island

Five days at Lady Elliot Island Eco Resort (the southernmost coral cay of the Great Barrier Reef, 80 kilometres off the Queensland coast) working alongside Project Manta researchers on private boat charters in search of reef manta rays and sea turtles, contributing photo-identification data to a national manta ray database, participating in the Tag-free Turtle Project and the Leaf to Reef study, and exploring the reef by day and by night.

This tour puts you in the water alongside a Project Manta researcher, collecting real data on reef manta rays that feeds into a national database tracking population movements and reproductive status around the Australian coastline. Private boat charters run to tides rather than timetables; the Night Explorer Tour covers the island after dark, and a portion of every booking funds the researcher’s fieldwork costs directly.